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During his post-game press conference, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock noted the benefits of a series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Among the highlights Babcock listed was the excellent restaurants and great sights in the Windy City.

But when Babcock spoke Sunday night following the Wings' win over the Anaheim Ducks in the seventh game of their first-round series, he pretty much avoided the topic of playing the Blackhawks. You know, the NHL's top regular-season team from Chicago, which won the Presidents' Trophy, the Western Conference and the Central Division titles by a landslide.

His players, though, made no bones about the strength of the Blackhawks, their Original Six rivals who took out the Minnesota Wild in five games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"It's going to be tough and it's going to be a very tall task for us," Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. "They're a good team and a very deep team at every position.

"Our top guys are going to have to play like our top guys."

The good news for the Wings is that after a sluggish start against the Ducks, their top players did elevate their games to dispatch the Pacific Division champs.

Detroit's Game 7 performance was a complete effort from top to bottom. The final score actually flattered the Ducks, who were unable to generate anything of a comeback in the final period, and only made it a one-goal game when Francois Beauchemin's cross-ice pass banked in off the skate of Wings defenceman Jonathan Ericsson during a late power play.

"I think we learned from past games, continued to get in on them and forecheck, try to make them come the full 200 feet," Howard said of his team's efforts. "I think we learned from Game 3, when they came storming back in the third period."

That said, the Wings must be even better against the Hawks than they were against the Ducks.

After their win in Anaheim, everybody in the Detroit room was immediately reminded how Chicago won all four meetings this season.

"I think the majority of them were shootout games," Howard noted.

Two of Chicago's wins came via shootout and one was in overtime. The other was a 7-1 beatdown at the Joe Louis Arena in late March.

"They were tight in the regular season and it's going to be tight in the playoffs," Howard said. "It's about going out there and establishing your game plan, not playing to their strengths."

The Wings and Blackhawks last meeting in the playoffs was the 2009 Western Conference final, a series won by Detroit.

Those games are long in the past, as are the regular season encounters, if you ask the Wings.

"I think we have to do a lot of the stuff we were doing here," Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall said of the changes his team must make against the Hawks, compared to the regular season games. "We have to limit the mistakes we've made. It feels like at times we were giving them too easy goals.

"Over the regular season, other than the one blowout, it was all very tight games. It should be a good matchup."

As Advertised in the Calgary SUN

Red Wings know what's facing them in Blackhawks

During his post-game press conference, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock noted the benefits of a series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Among the highlights Babcock listed was the excellent restaurants and great sights in the Windy City.

But when Babcock spoke Sunday night following the Wings' win over the Anaheim Ducks in the seventh game of their first-round series, he pretty much avoided the topic of playing the Blackhawks. You know, the NHL's top regular-season team from Chicago, which won the Presidents' Trophy, the Western Conference and the Central Division titles by a landslide.

His players, though, made no bones about the strength of the Blackhawks, their Original Six rivals who took out the Minnesota Wild in five games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"It's going to be tough and it's going to be a very tall task for us," Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. "They're a good team and a very deep team at every position."